The third Bundesliga weekend of the season has shaken up the first division table. The young team's high-flying performance was halted by the OneKiel club, which has won both regattas so far. On the Wannsee, the North Germans, whose home venue was also the venue for the world's largest regatta series Kieler Woche with around 2500 active participants, "only" managed 15th place as guests of the Potsdamer Yacht-Club. In the absence of OneKiel's helmsman Magnus Simon, who has been so successful in the league recently, the OneKiel crew did not get going as usual.
On this long weekend, the young helmswoman Fanny Popken with Claus Kroos, Paul Prochaska and Jakob Rohner stole the show from the helmsmen and their crews, some of whom were very experienced in the league. The quartet from the Seglerhaus am Wannsee club laid the foundations for their home victory with five first places in 15 races, relegating the record champions from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein in Hamburg to second place by two points on their home turf. The decision was only made in the last race. "It's a great sense of achievement to be able to perform on the course where you train and to see that your work is paying off," said Fanny Popken. "We didn't look at the score and started the last race super relaxed - for me, that's the best strategy for not getting nervous and keeping a clear head." Third place went to the team from the Berlin Yacht Club. The dedicated hosts from the Potsdam Yacht Club had to settle for 16th place.
Norddeutscher Regatta Verein (12 points) - this weekend with Australian helmsman David Chapman, who won the final of the Sailing Champions League with the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron team in 2019, Dorian Heitzig, Leon Passlack and Florian Thoelen - took the top spot in the season standings ahead of Segel- und Motorboot Club Überlingen (16 points) and Nord-Verein OneKiel (17 points). The Chiemsee Yacht Club is just behind them on equal points. The season for first and second division teams will continue from 25 to 27 September at the venue where the Olympic sailors competed in the Kiel Week final today: Kiel-Schilksee. The final will take place in October on Hamburg's Outer Alster.
Here to the Bundesliga table of the first division teams.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
